Short Communication: Curcuma wanenlueanga (Zingiberaceae), a new species of subgenus Curcuma from Thailand

Surapon Saensouk (Plant and Invertebrate Taxonomy and Its Applications Unit Group, Walai Rukhavej Botanical Research Institute, Mahasarakham University. Kantarawichai District, Maha Sarakham, 44150, Thailand)
Thawatphong Boonma (Brio Botanical Research Garden. 53 M.5 Ban Mai Village, Phikun Ok, Ban Na District, Nakhon Nayok, 26110, Thailand)
ADISAK THOMUDTHA (Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine Division, Mahasarakham Hospital. Mueang District, Maha Sarakham, 44000, Thailand)
PARIYA THOMUDTHA (Health Consumer Protection Sub-Division, Social Medicine Division, Mahasarakham Hospital, Mueang District, Maha Sarakham, 44000, Thailand)
Piyaporn Saensouk (Plant and Invertebrate Taxonomy and Its Applications Unit Group, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Kantarawichai District, Maha Sarakham, 44150, Thailand)

Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity
Vol. 22 No. 7 (2021)

Abstract. Saensouk S, Boonma T, Thomudtha A, Thomudtha P, Saensouk P. 2021. Short Communication: Curcuma wanenlueanga (Zingiberaceae), a new species of subgenus Curcuma from Thailand. Biodiversitas 22: 2988-2994. Curcuma wanenlueanga Saensouk, Thomudtha & Boonma, a new species of Curcuma subgenus Curcuma (Zingiberaceae) from Thailand was described with detailed illustrations, and photographs. The dominant morphological description is terminal inflorescence, leaf adaxially green with reddish-purple along the midrib, leaf-sheath with reddish-brown tinge. Moreover, the color and smell rhizome of C. wanenlueanga has yellow with a darker core internally. It is distributed in Mae Hong Son Province, Northern Thailand, and cultivated throughout the country, i.e. Nakhon Nayok, Maha Sarakham, Chiang Mai, Tak, Chantaburi, Suratthani, and Kanchanaburi Provinces. It is used as Thai traditional medicinal. It grows in in sandy loam soil and well-drained in the mixed-deciduous forest, at elevation 700-900 m asl. It is accompanied by a revised key to 26 species of Curcuma subgenus Curcuma from Thailand.